Susan Alty, 67, was left with painful recurring infections, tooth loss and at one point the left side of her face sank.
Ms Alty received the money in an out-of-court settlement in August 2022 after her long-term dentist missed her tooth decay. The dentist did not admit liability.
She will now need two implants with crowns, which will have to be replaced regularly for the rest of her life. In the meantime, another tooth will need root canal treatment and a crown.
Mrs Alty had visited her dental practice in Chorley for more than 20 years and had seen her dentist many times, where he provided a range of treatments including repeated fillings, root canals, crowns and the extraction of a problem tooth.
He said: “The dentist has been my dentist for over twenty years and I thought he did a good job.
“I remember having crowns over a particular tooth that I had previously had root canal treatment on in the front of my mouth.
“I told him I was in pain and I thought there was an infection where the crown was placed, but they said I didn’t.
“I finally decided to go to a specialist dentist because the crown had fallen out, leaving me with a large gap in the front of my mouth which became extremely painful, especially when I was eating, as food would fall into the hole and I couldn’t clean it properly .
“The new dentist took an x-ray to examine my tooth and noticed that it had severe decay and was broken at the gum level.
“I had a corrective root canal on that tooth and another crown was placed.
“Unfortunately, I ran into further problems as it kept falling out. It was then revealed that there was further structural damage to the tooth.”
Mrs Alty, who says she felt really insecure about the gap in her teeth, added: ‘I felt reluctant to go out and socialize because of the big gap at the front of my mouth.
“After months of constant pain, I was told that the damage done by my original dentist could not be reversed on that particular tooth and I needed the tooth extracted and either an implant, denture or bridge.
“I was upset as it had already cost me almost £1,000 to get the crown out and I was on strong antibiotics for it.
“Also, the pain from the tooth had traveled to the side of my face and jaw and I still struggle with it today.
“It also came to light that the root canal treatment and extraction I had done on one of my back teeth by the dentist was avoidable. This really upset me as I’m convinced the left side of my face has sunken as a result.
“I am happy with my new dentist, but the whole experience was very difficult for me and I suffered a lot of pain because of it.”
Mrs Alty, from Chorley, was awarded the money by her local dentist with the help of specialist dental negligence lawyers at the Dental Law Partnership, who she contacted in 2019.
Analysis of her dental records revealed that if her original dentist had used due care and skill, she would not have suffered the avoidable loss of two of her back teeth, the embarrassment of the large gap in the front of the mouth of and painful recurrent infections. along with difficulty eating.
Kyle Padley of the Dental Law Partnership said: “The anguish and pain our client experienced was completely unnecessary. If the dentist had provided adequate treatment in the first place, her problems could have been avoided.”
